Jon Rahm captures the American Express outdueling Davis Thompson down the stretch. This is the second consecutive event that Rahm has won. He now moves up to 3rd in the OWGR. Rahm’s the current favorite this week and deservedly so especially given his course history. Most recently he won the 2021 U.S. Open which was hosted at Torrey Pines and the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open.
The Farmers Insurance Open will take place at Torrey Pines and will feature a multicourse setup like last week. It’s another unique event that features a great field loaded with some of the top talents in the world.
General Tournament Information:
- Dates: January 25th, 2023- January 28th, 2023
- Location: San Diego, California, United States
- Format: 72-hole stroke play
- Wednesday – Thursday: 2 Course Rotation
- Torrey Pines North Course
- Torrey Pines South Course
- Friday – Saturday: Torrey Pines South Course
- Wednesday – Thursday: 2 Course Rotation
- Field/ Cut: 156 Pros & 156 Amateurs | Top 65 and Ties – 36 Holes
- Purse/ Winner: $8,700,000 /$1,566,000
- FedEx Cup Points: 500
- Historic Cut Line:
- 2022: -3
- 2021: -1
- 2020: -1
Torrey Pines – South Course (3 Rounds)
- Course: Torrey Pines South Course
- Course Architect: William P. Bell and William F. Bell (1957)
- Renovation: Rees Jones (2001, 2019)
- Course Type: Coastal/ Parkland
- Par: 72 (4x 3’s / 10x 4’s / 4x 5’s)
- Length: 7,765 yards
- Greens: Poa annua .095”
- Fairways: Ryegrass overseed .425”
- Rough: Ryegrass overseed 3.5”
- Stimpmeter: 11.5 feet
- Bunkers: 82
- Water Hazards:1 (In-Play on 1 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 5,000 sq. ft.
- Course Scoring Average:
- 2022: 72.35 (+0.35), Rank 15 of 50
- 2021: 73.34 (+1.34), Rank 4 of 51
- 2020: 72.53 (+0.53), Rank 7 of 41
- Comparable Courses:
- Muirfield Village – the Memorial Tournament
- Quail Hallow – 2021 Wells Fargo Championship
- Riviera CC – The Genesis Invitational
- Comparable Yardage (7,765 Yards):
- This is the longest course on Tour
- Comparable Greens (Poa annua .095”):
- Spyglass Hill GC – Poa annua .100” – AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
- Riviera CC – Poa annua .100” – The Genesis Invitational
- Comparable Average Green Size (5,000 sq. ft.):
- PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Course – 5,000 sq. ft. – American Express
- Spyglass Hill Golf Course – 5,000 sq. ft. – AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
- TPC River Highlands – 5,000 sq. ft. – Travelers Championship
Torrey Pines – North Course (1 Round)
- Course: Torrey Pines North Course
- Course Architect: William P. Bell and William F. Bell (1957)
- Renovation: Tom Weiskopf (2016)
- Course Type: Coastal/ Parkland
- Par: 72 (4x 3’s / 10x 4’s / 4x 5’s)
- Length: 7,258 yards
- Greens: Bentgrass .100”
- Fairways: Ryegrass overseed .425”
- Rough: Ryegrass overseed 3.5”
- Stimpmeter: 10.5 feet
- Bunkers: 42
- Water Hazards:1 (In-Play on 1 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 6,000 sq. ft.
- Course Scoring Average:
- 2022: 68.77 (-3.23), Rank 48 of 50
- 2021: 70.13 (-1.87), Rank 44 of 51
- 2020: 70.58 (-1.42), Rank 33 of 41
- Comparable Courses:
- Riviera CC – The Genesis Invitational
- Club De Golf Chapultepec – Mexico Open/ WGC-Mexico Championship
- Comparable Yardage (7,258 Yards):
- TPC Summerlin – 7,255 Yards – Shriners Children’s Open
- TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course) – 7,256 Yards – THE PLAYERS Championship
- TPC Scottsdale – 7,261 Yards – WM Phoenix Open
- Comparable Greens (Bentgrass .100”):
- TPC Craig Ranch – Bentgrass .100” – AT&T Byron Nelson
- Muirfield Village – Bentgrass .090” – the Memorial Tournament
- TPC Twin Cities – Bentgrass .110” – 3M Open
- Comparable Average Green Size (6,000 sq. ft.):
- Monterey Peninsula CC (Shore Course) – 6,000 sq. ft. – AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
- Puntacana (Corales Golf Course) – 6,000 sq. ft. – Corales Puntacana Championship
- Port Royal Golf Course – 6,000 sq. ft. – Butterfield Bermuda Championship
TV Information:
- Round 1: Wednesday, January 25th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Round 2: Thursday, January 26th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Round 3: Friday, January 27th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
- CBS – 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Round 4: Saturday, January 28th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
- CBS – 4:30 PM – 8:00 PM
- Thursday: Mostly Sunny 58 F, 8 mp/h NWW, 47% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Friday: Sunny 56 F, 16 mp/h NE, 30% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Saturday: Sunny 57 F, 7 mp/h NW, 41% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Sunday: Partly Cloudy 57 F, 11 mp/h SSW, 63% Humidity, 10% Chance of Rain
Course/ Tournament History:
The Farmers Insurance Open will take place from Wednesday to Saturday. This change was made to avoid competing with the NFL Conference Championship games that will take place on Sunday.
The Farmers Insurance Open originated as the San Diego Open back in 1952. That name would last until 1958 when it was changed to the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open. In 1992 Buick took over the sponsorship of the tournament and the name was changed to the Buick Invitational until 2009. In 2010 the name was switched to the Farmers Insurance Open and has remained that since then.
During the first few years of the event, the tournament bounced around different courses. However, in 1968 the tournament moved to Torrey Pines where it is currently played. The South Course at Torrey Pines has also hosted the U.S. Open twice in 2008 and most recently in 2021.
- 72-Hole Record:
- 266, George Burns (1987), Tiger Woods (1999)
- 18-Hole Record (South Course):
- 62, Tiger Woods (Round 3, 1999)
- 18-Hole Record (North Course):
- 61, Mark Brooks (Round 2, 1990), Brandt Snedeker (Round 1, 2007)
- 18-Hole Record (North Course – Redesigned):
- 62, Jon Rahm (Round 1, 2019), Ryan Palmer (Round 2, 2020), Alex Smalley (Round 2, 2022), Adam Schenk (Round 2, 2022)
Course Guide/ Scorecard:
For the second week in a row, we have an event that utilizes multiple courses. On Wednesday and Thursday, all golfers will play one round on the North and South course. Anyone who has made the cut after that will then play the final two rounds on the South course.
The South Course at Torrey Pines is the longest course on the PGA Tour. Due to its length and complex green designs, it plays as one of the toughest courses. The redesign in 2019 only increased the difficulty of the course with additional bunkers being added. The South course features Poa Annua greens which are notoriously difficult to score on.
Featured/ Signature Hole(s): 3
For a hole-by-hole overview of the course, you can click the following link.
The North Course is by far the easier course of the two playing roughly 500 yards shorter in terms of distance. There’s also no water hazards on the course and has almost half as many bunkers as the South Course. The North Course also features pure bentgrass greens which are different from the South course. This course provides some more opportunities for birdies which players will need to capitalize on to compete this week.
Featured/ Signature Hole(s): 15
For a hole-by-hole overview of the course, you can click the following link.
Key Statistics:
- Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Poa annua)
- Par 4 Scoring: 450-500 Yards
- Par 5 Scoring: 550-600 Yards
- Proximity: 250+ Yards
- Driving Distance
- Bogey Avoidance
- Comparable Courses and Event History
The Field/ Odds:
156 Players will compete in the Farmers Insurance Open this week. 5 of the top 10 players in the world are in the field.
- Jon Rahm (+450), won his second event in a row last week at The American Express outdueling Davis Thompson. In Rahm’s four starts on Tour this year, he has never finished outside the top 10. He’s played in the Farmers Insurance Open six times before finishing 1/ T29/ T5/ 2/ T7/ T3.
- Xander Schauffele (+1100), has finished top 10 in each of his first three starts this season. He did however withdraw at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Schauffele finished T34 last year at this event and T2 in 2021.
- Tony Finau (+1100), won the Cadence Bank Houston Open back in November and has finished inside the top 20 in his last three starts since then. In his eight appearances at Torrey Pines, he has four top-10 finishes.
- Justin Thomas (+1400), has only played three times this season finishing T40/ 5/ T25. He’ll make his second consecutive appearance at this event after finishing T20 last year.
- Collin Morikawa (+1800), is trending towards a win finishing T45/ T29/T15/ 6/ 2 in his five starts this season. He last played in this event in 2020 when he finished T21.
- Will Zalatoris (+1800), has only played twice this season finishing T11 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and T36 at The American Express. He has some great course history here placing T7 in 2021 and 2nd in 2022.
Previous Winners in the field: Luke List (’22), Justin Rose (’19), Jason Day (’18, ’15), Jon Rahm (’17), Scott Stallings (’14)
Notable Withdraws: Max McGreevy, Mark Hubbard, Chex Reavie, Chris Stroud, John Huh
To see the most up-to-date odds, you can click the following link.
To see the full field for this event, you can click the following link.
Horses for Courses:
- Jon Rahm: 1/ T29/ T5/ 2/ T7/ T3
- Will Zalatoris: MC/ T7/ 2
- Tony Finau: T24/ T18/ T4/ T6/ T13/ T6/ T2/ MC
- Ryan Palmer: MC/ T35/ WD/ MC/ T2/ T13/ T21/ T2/ T16
- Luke List: T68/ MC/ MC/ T12/ T40/ T36/ T10/ 1
Donkeys for Courses:
“Horses for Courses” is a phrase that is widely used and describes the best course/tournament fits. These are the players that have had success at the particular course/event. “Donkeys for Courses” is something I came up with that highlights the players who have struggled at a particular course/tournament.
- Satoshi Kodaira: MC/ MC/ MC
- Tyler Duncan: MC/ MC/ MC
- Michael Gligic: MC/ MC/ 77
- Scott Harrington: MC/ MC
Previous Winners Scores & Prices:
- 2022: Luke List (-15)
- Price: 90-1
- 2021: Patrick Reed (-14)
- Price: 25-1
- 2020: Marc Leishman (-15)
- Price: 55-1
- 2019: Justin Rose (-21)
- Price: 14-1
- 2018: Jason Day (-9)
- Price: 22-1
Picks (Outrights):
- Will Zalatoris (+1800) – DraftKings
- Risk: 0.45 to win 8.10 Units
- Collin Morikawa (+2000) – DraftKings
- Risk: 0.40 to win 8.00 Units
- Max Homa (+2500) – BetMGM
- Risk: 0.32 to win 8.00 Units
Total Risk on Outrights: 1.17 Units
Picks (Top 20):
- Jason Day (+115) – DraftKings
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.15 Units
- Taylor Montgomery (+130) – DraftKings
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.30 Units
Total Risk on Top 20s: 2.00 Units
Picks (Top 40):
- Luke List (+110) – FanDuel
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.10 Units
- Taylor Pendrith (+125) – FanDuel
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.25 Units
Total Risk on Top 40s: 2.00 Units
Total Risk on the Farmers Insurance Open: 5.17 Units
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting. Any feedback whether positive or negative is always encouraged.
